Hit The Lights
by SilentShade
Summary: When the students of Hollywood Arts hear about the Ohio Music Residency Program, they instantly jump at the chance to take part in it, even if it means abandoning their lives in LA and going to live with absolute strangers halfway across the country. But what the teens find in the small town settings of Ohio is way more than they could ever have hoped for...


**A/N: Hey everyone! So this is a brand new project that fictionfairy1 and I are doing together, and this will be the first time that either of us co-write anything, so yeah, pretty cool! This will also be the first time that either of us write anything Victorious related, so I apologize in advance if any of the characters/relationships/situations are unrealistic or uncharacteristic. This isn****'****t really AU, but some things will be slightly different****…****suspense! The only thing I need to mention right now is that in this story, Robbie is a really good dancer. I know it****'****s random, but also pretty vital to the series of events.**

**I think that****'****s pretty much everything for now, but I****'****ll add another note at the end. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don****'****t own Glee, Victorious or any of the characters (if I did, I****'****d probably be rich!)**

…

Erwin Sikowitz clasped his hands behind his back as he addressed the students, "Kids, there will be no class today. Instead I am going to be telling you about something I like to call the Ohio Music Residency Program. Actually I like to call it Omuresp, but everyone else seems to like calling it something else. But that is not the point. The point is that I believe it will be an extremely great opportunity for you kids to realize that there are other people out there whose music ability is 3times that of yours."

"So basically you're saying that whatever this program thing is, will be a great way to kill our confidence?" Robbie Shapiro asked. "I don't know if you realized this, but there are some of us in this class who have already been urged to go for counseling due to certain self-esteem issues."

"Actually, Robbie, that's only you." Jade West added.

"I told you that in confidence!" Robbie replied defensively.

"Anyway," Sikowitz continued, "as I was saying, the program will be a pretty informative humbling experience that I think you kids could really use. And because I know what you're about to ask, I'll tell you: no, my mother never forgot to feed me when I was a baby. Well, except for that one week where she forgot me at the supermarket. Once again, not the point, can't you people just stick to the topic already!"

Tori Vega raised her hand. "If I may ask, what exactly is this program?"

"Good question. Okay, the Ohio Music Residency Program is pretty much exactly what the name implies. It is a music program/competition that takes place in Ohio, hence the residency thing, since it would be pretty hard to take part in something situated in another state from right here in LA. Any other questions?"

"I have another one," Tori offered, "who are we going to be staying with? I don't know anybody who lives in Ohio."

"You're not going to be staying with people that you know, that's just crazy talk," Sikowitz snorted, "you're going to be residing with the families of other kids in the program."

"Urgg," Jade rolled her eyes, "do we have to? If you ask me, it sounds really boring and stupid. Pretty much exactly like the people in this room."

"Yes, Ms._Pest, _you have to. Hollywood Arts is getting special consideration because of its reputation, but if you were in any other school, then you'd be forced to go through several auditioning processes before they'd let you anywhere near the program. The school's faculty, which I was told I'm part of, had to elect a handful of students each that would be allowed to participate. 6 of you," He pointed to the class, "are among those selected to go. Would you like to know who you are?"

"Oh please, we all know I'm going." Jade shrugged.

"For once, she's actually correct. The other 5 are Tori Vega, Beck Oliver, Robbie Shapiro, Andre Harris and little miss Cat Valentine." Sikowitz announced.

"Yay!" Cat squeaked.

"Are you being serious?" Robbie blinked, "_I__'__m_ going?"

"Sweet!" Andre was also surprised at the mention of his name.

"No way!" Tori exclaimed excitedly.

Beck was the only one who remained quiet. Tori noticed this but didn't say anything, instead deciding to ask him about it later.

"Now this is exactly the reaction I was hoping for. I'm glad you're all so excited, because you're getting on the plane this weekend. There is just one more important piece of information that you should know: while you're there, you will unfortunately have to attend classes at whichever school your hosts' child goes to. I have already submitted all your applications and filled out all the information, so you have nothing to worry about." Sikowitz had a somewhat mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You still haven't told us where we will be staying." Robbie pointed out.

"Ah yes, but first I have to inform you that half of you will be attending classes at a private school by the name of Dalton Academy, whereas the other half will be stuck in William McKinley High School. It is _not _a private school. The 3 that are lucky enough to go to McKinley are Tori, Cat and Andre."

"Why is going to a private school a good thing?" Andre wondered.

Sikowitz burst out laughing, "'Why is going to a public school a good thing?' You have a lot to learn young Harris. Anywho, if you would all kindly come up here and collect your information sheets? It contains all the vital things you need to know about the program, the competition, where you'll be staying, and how you're going to get there. It does not, however, explain to you how to reach Mars using only red paint, a squirrel's tail, and half of an apple pie."

…

Tori, Beck, Cat, Andre, Jade, and Robbie stood with their luggage as they waited for the car to come pick them up and take them to their assigned families. None of them would admit it out loud, but they were all feeling more than slightly out of place as they hung around the Lima airport. None of them had ever been to Ohio before, and on top of that, this would be the longest that any of them had ever been away from their families. But another thing that none of them would admit was how excited they were for what was to come. For some of them, this was the biggest career opportunity that they had ever, and might ever, be lucky enough to stumble upon.

"Urgh, we've been waiting forever." Jade complained.

"It's only been 30 minutes." Beck said.

"Whatever."

Almost as if the universe could hear them, 6 cars pulled up at that moment. After exchanging a few words with the drivers, the teens confirmed that they were in fact there for them.

"Well, I guess this is it then." Tori smiled sadly.

"Stop being such a drama queen, obviously we'll see each other around. I mean, how big do you think this place is?"Jade rolled her eyes as she got into her designated car.

"She's right, you know. See you guys around." Andre waved before stepping into his own vehicle.

The other 4 followed suit, but their movements were filled with a lot more uncertainty. Tori tried to sit back and relax, but her mind kept focusing on everything around her. She was still trying to get used to being in a strange place that was so different from everything she had gotten to know in LA. More than anything she hoped that her 'host' family would like her, and that she would like them too. She was usually pretty good at making new friends and getting along with people, so hopefully that would count in her favor. Then again, the people here wouldn't be quite like the people she usually dealt with. The more Tori thought and pondered things, the more nervous she became. New questions popped into her head, like what if the other kids in this program were all musical prodigies and she sucked in comparison? That would be so embarrassing. The only comfort she had was that she trusted Sikowitz, and that he would never had entered her and her friends into this if he didn't believe they were capable...right?_ Tori, stop. You are just over-thinking thing. Calm down and stop psyching yourself up,_ she thought.

Before she knew it, the car pulled into a driveway. Tori's heart was beating so fast she was afraid it might literally pop out of her chest. Despite this, she thanked the driver and got out to collect her bags. When she was content that she had all her belongings, she slowly made her way up to the front door. That short walk was one of the most nerve-wrecking experiences of her life, and that was saying something. Tori had absolutely no logical explanation for her anxiety. None at all. With her luggage in one hand, and her bag over her shoulder, she knocked. At first it seemed as if no one was home, but all too soon the door swung open to reveal a dark-haired attractive middle-aged woman. She smiled at the nervous teen, "Hi, sweetheart. You must be Tori Vega, it's so nice to meet you. I'm Charlotte Anderson, but you can just call me Charlotte. Come in."

Tori returned the woman's smile and stepped into the house. Jade had said that all the people who lived in Ohio were poor; Tori now had proof that that was definitely not true. The house was quite large and very beautiful. "Wow, this is so cool." She grinned.

Charlotte laughed. "Glad you like it. Blaine, come down here and meet Tori!" She yelled in the direction of the staircase.

A few seconds later a short-ish curly-haired boy emerged. She noted that he looked to be around her own age. "Hey, I'm Blaine." The boy smiled.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tori." She smiled back.

"Let me show you to your room." He said, gesturing for her to follow.

"Okay." She lifted her suitcase again and followed him upstairs. He led her down a hallway and stopped at the end of it, opening the door and switching on the light. Tori grinned. Not only was the room really big, but she could tell that they had gone to a lot of trouble to make it look pretty. "This is amazing. Thank you."

"You're welcome. It's going to be really cool having you here." Blaine breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that she seemed happy with the way he had decorated the place for her. Decorating a room for a person that you didn't know was far from an easy task.

…

Beck's eyes widened when he saw the size of the house he would be staying in. He kept thinking that there must have been some kind of mistake; how could he possibly have been assigned to rich people. Really rich, by the looks of the property. And Jade had said that the people in Ohio were all poor. Then again, he should have known better than to actually listen to her.

His surprise practically doubled when the front door was opened by a kid who couldn't possibly have been older than10. "Who are you?" The boy asked. Was this kid in the same program as him and his friends?

"Uh, Beck. Beck Oliver. Maybe I'm at the wrong house, sorry."

"Who are you looking for?"

"The Smythes." He hoped that he had pronounced it correctly.

"Hmmm," the boy seemed to be considering something, "well, you're not in the wrong place. Are you looking for my parents?"

"Uh, maybe. I mean, yeah, I am.

"They're not here right now. My dad had a work emergency and my mom is in Paris." He explained.

"I see. Could I maybe come inside and wait for them? I'm pretty sure that they're expecting me." Beck told him.

"Sure," the boy shrugged, "I'm Nathan, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Nathan." Beck smiled as he stepped over the threshold.

If he thought that the house looked big from the outside, it was nothing compared to what it looked like from the inside. Beck couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to live in a place like this. It was so grand and so…rich. "Are you here alone?" He asked Nathan.

"No, my brother should be around here somewhere. Why are you interested in knowing if I'm alone or not? Why the heck did I tell you that my mom and dad aren't home? Are you a serial killer?" The little boy eyed him suspiciously.

Beck had to stop himself from succumbing to the urge to laugh. "No, I'm not a serial killer."

"You wouldn't tell me if you were though."

"No, I suppose I wouldn't. But I swear upon my life that I'm not."

"Your life or mine?" Nathan wasn't convinced.

"Uhhh." Beck never got the chance to answer.

"Nate, how many times do I have to tell you that under no circumstances are you allowed to invite strange people into this house without asking my permission first?" A tall teenage boy entered the room. Something about his presence made Beck very nervous.

"He said that mom and dad were expecting him!" Nathan insisted.

"Did he now?" Sebastian shifted his focus from his brother and onto Beck, "Did he also tell you that he was here to give you free candy and that you needed to get into his car? Honestly, that's just amateur. Now what the hell do you want with my brother?"

Beck was slightly pissed off. "Nothing. I'm Beck Oliver and I was told that you people were expecting me. You know what? Never mind, I'm going home." He turned to leave.

"Wait," Sebastian rolled his eyes, "we were expecting you. I just assumed you'd look different."

"What do you mean?" Beck frowned.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I thought you'd be fatter, or shorter, maybe even a ginger. All in all, I just didn't think you'd be this attractive."

Beck was a bit stunned. He had no idea what to say to that. Sebastian burst out laughing at the same time as Nathan grimaced and said, "Oh come on Seb! You're scaring him."

"Then maybe he should stop being so freaking uptight and take a damn joke," he grinned and extended his arm, "I'm Sebastian Smythe."

"Beck Oliver," he replied anxiously, "but I guess you already knew that."

"I did. My dad sends his regrets that he couldn't be here to meet you in person, but he had a work emergency that required him to fly over to Boston. I'm not really sure when he's going to be back."

"What work does he do?" Beck asked.

"Attorney. It's how we can afford all this," he gestured to their surroundings, "what about your dad?"

"Real estate. Are you the one that's in the Music Residency Program?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yup, I'm in both the singing and dancing categories."

"I'm only in the dancing. Never been much of a singer."

"Cool. You look like you could be a junior. Am I right?" He wanted to know.

It was Beck's turn to nod.

"Me too. Huh, I guess that makes you my competition."Sebastian grinned mischievously, "This is definitely going to be interesting. I look forward to beating you."

'Interesting' was not the word that Beck would have used.

…

Jade smiled when she saw the neighborhood that the driver was heading into. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that only rich people would be able to afford houses like these._ Well, things most certainly just got a heck of a lot more interesting, _she thought to herself. Jade was anything but disappointed when the car drove off, leaving her in front of one of the largest houses in the area. She rang the doorbell and waited curiously to see what kind of people she had been assigned to. As long as they weren't uptight old people, then she believed they would get along just fine. She knew of course that she was going to have to put on her best side when interacting with her host family, since the last thing she wanted was to be kicked out, forcing her to lose the competition on a technicality.

The person who answered the door was anything but old, although he did seem somewhat uptight-looking. Jade also observed that he was definitely attractive, not that she cared much. After her breakup with Beck, she had decided to stay away from men for a while. The young male frowned at her, then looked down at her luggage. "Are you Jade West?"

"No, I'm the Easter bunny."

"But you're not a guy." His frown intensified.

"Once again, no, I'm not. But you're obviously enrolled at the School for the Mentally Handicapped." Jade glared.

"What is your problem? We were told that you were a _guy_, so excuse me for being slightly confused. Why did you state on your application that you were male?" He asked.

"I didn't. I didn't even fill out my own application."

"Then who did?"

"My teacher, Sikowitz- oh wow, he so did that on purpose! He made the damn thing to look like I was a freaking dude." She didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed. She settled on being both.

"What the heck did you do to the poor guy to make him want to do something like that?"

"Why do you assume that I did something to him? That is such a guy thing to do." She rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so not only are you a girl, but you're one of those 'we're better than you' feminist types." He arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, bite me. There is not a single classification that exists on earth that you'll be able to put me into. You on the other hand…"

He snorted. "Well someone's modest. Look, just come inside. I need to go break the news to my parents that instead of a teenage guy, we got a self-assured sarcastic goth. Imagine my excitement." He said dryly as he turned around and headed back inside the house. She groaned inwardly and followed him.

Hunter's, as she soon realized was his name, parents didn't seem to mind that her teacher had made a mistake on the application and that she was in fact a girl. Hunter's father, Henry, chuckled and admitted that he had thought 'Jade' to be strange name for a boy, and Hunter's mother, Anne, smiled and said that it was lovely to meet her. They asked their son to show her around the house, since they were going out and would only be back the following day.

"Your parents are nice, what the heck happened to you?"Jade asked Hunter as soon as his parents had left.

"I met you." He mumbled in response.

"Real funny. You come up with that yourself?"

"I could have done better, but I was too busy planning out my suicide, since that's the only way I could possibly survive having you stay here for the next month. And now I remembered that you have to go to school with me too. I just love my life." Hunter mumbled.

"And it just got better." Jade smiled patronizingly.

"Excuse me for a second. I need to figure out where my dad keeps his gun."

"Oh, you're very excused."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "I hope you know that Dalton, the school I go to, is an all-boys school."

"I'm fine with that. Girls get on my nerves."

"And you get on mine." Hunter grinned broadly.

"If I were you, I'd shut my mouth. You look like you're trying to eat the earth."

"I was about to tell you the exact same thing, except I was going to say that you make people want to eat themselves."

"Cute."

"Aren't I?"

"No."

This went on for a while.

…

Cat soon found out that she was going to be living with a pretty blonde girl named Brittany, and her really fat cat named Lord Tubbington. Cat and Brittany got along really well, realizing very quickly that they understood each other in a manner that no one else really did. Suddenly things didn't seem so scary for the perky red-head.

Robbie met Jeff Sterling, a tall blonde dancer who attended the all-boys school Dalton Academy. Robbie took an instant liking to his new house-mate. In fact, Robbie really liked the kid's whole family, which consisted of a mother, father, three brothers and a sister. He had never been away from his own family before, and had thought that it would be really hard to be so far away from them for so long, but his fears were instantly forgotten when him and Jeff started comparing techniques and exchanging dance moves and routines.

Andre went to stay with a very religious boy by the name of Joe Hart. Andre could almost instantly tell that Joe was a very easy guy to get along with. Andre particularly liked the boy's dreadlocks, which he thought suited the brunette perfectly. He also learned that Joe was a songwriter just like him, and the two took turns listening to each other's work. It also didn't take Andre very long to realize that, despite him coming here with the hopes and intentions of possibly winning a competition, there would be a lot of other good things that were going to come of this trip.

…

**A/N: I know this isn****'****t very long, but we basically just wanted to introduce the storyline. There are just some things I****'****d like to point out: in this story Hunter obviously came to Dalton a year early, but is still a senior. Also, Kurt and Blaine have already broken up. I also just need to repeat what I said earlier: I don****'****t know much about the characters of Victorious, and I know absolutely nothing about their childhood/families, so if any of my info is wrong, that is why. I****'****m kinda just making things up as I go along.**

**So please tell me what you guys think and if you believe that this is worth continuing : )**


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